Bram_on_Madone

That's a beaut!

Whatever you do, don't eat bananas or anything else that will take your stomach 12-24 hours to digest - all this does is draw energy away from your muscles to the digestive process. Your body can only digest highly refined carbs (speak glucose or similar) efficiently enough that it will make any difference on the bike. Peanut butter is very high in fat, so it will also slow down your digestion.

I called CSA and they told me. I then logged on and dowloaded my active membership card. There's obviously a glitch in the matrix with your membership - call them to check.

Ok, I found out the facts for anybody that is interested: 1. This race will not use PPA numbers as in prior years - you have to collect a number the day before or on the morning of the race ("seeding will be based on your Racetec index") 2. A prerequisite for this race is membership to CSA - otherwise you have to buy a day licence for R35. 3. If you were a member of PPA last year, they would already have registered you with CSA until Dec 2012 - you can phone CSA on 021 557 1212 to get your details and download your membership card (you have to show it when you collect your number). 4. Post Dec 2012 you will have to separately register with CSA for R75 if you want to ride similar events without a day licence (just makes you wonder what PPA is doing with all the extra R75's they have this year).

Anybody know if we'll be riding with PPA numbers again. Don't know about you guys, but I haven't received a number in the post yet.

Been riding Gators for years on my training wheels and have never had any of these problems. I agree they are a bit tight to slip over a rim though, but on training rides you have enough time for this anyway. I have tried a few other tyres, but in my my experience, nothing seems to beat them for mileage. Remember they are not designed to be a racing tyre.

I have the same 2.0 TDI engine in my Audi and its brilliant. I've had it for 4 years with no problems at all. Consumption is fantastic (with a light foot you can keep it below 6l / 100km) and there is plenty of grunt. As mentioned by the The Crow, its just a bit slow off the line, but it makes up for it in heeps once the turbo kicks in. I try to use the 50 ppm Diesel, but have used the 500 ppm plenty also. The only difference seems to be that there is slightly more engine smoke with the later. Maintenance on a Diesel is not necessarily more expensive - if something breaks it will generally cost a lot, but the chance of something breaking is a lot lower, especially on this particular engine. In any event, if there is anything major wrong with your engine the warranty should cover it.

Game, Makro and Dion Wired (as well Cambridge) are part of Massmart. On the other hand, SW, OW, First Ascent and Capestorm are part of a separate listed group called Holdsport.

If you're getting cold, try pedaling harder

I'm not sure how the warranty works, but I've had the watch for 3 years and changed the battery (myself) twice. If it breaks now, don't think I would qualify for warranty anymore, but either way, I don't think anybody would be able to tell that I changed it myself. The Polar guys have convinced everybody its this really difficult procedure, but its just a plastic screw in cap - hardly more difficult than opening a beer.

I also noticed this, I guess they only have Koos and Pietie reporting on Cricket and Rugby and they've spent all their spare cash on the tabloid writers, so they can't afford a cycling correspondent....

Other than the seat post, are you comfortable on the large frame? 1.84m is a border line height between a large and XL frame and also depends on the brand. If the bike feels small, get and XL and a short stem.

I bought a battery at the Polar stand and the guy almost didn't want to give it to me, cause he said I'll break me watch if I did it myself. Went home, used a R2 coin and had it changed in 30 seconds no problems. Don't understand the whole hype around not being able to do it yourself

Oh ja, that's for an XL frame and standard XT wheels. So you shorties out there should be able to shave off another few hundred grams easily...

Happy to oblige - just picked up my dual Anthem X Advanced from the shop yesterday. Put it together from various (mainly new, but some old) bits and pieces. Weighs in at 11.6kg including standard XT group, tubeless Continental Race Kings, sludge and fairly heavy Deore pedals (no bar ends though...). The whole project cost me just under R20k, so its definitely doable.

All the people I know that eat a lot of fat and protein are overweight and have health problems. I eat a lot of carbs as well as fruit and vegetables and have an ideal BMI with no health problems. That's all the research I need. Its not like anybody else listens to bergies for financial advice, so why does everybody listen to unhealthy, fat people for nutritional advice?

Suspect mathematics... I'll take 50!

Yip I do mine myself also... Not sure what the hard part is supposed to be?

Yip - I see on Racetec that 5 guys from the A-D bunch stayed away, but I think we did pretty well to catch the rest of them (and gave a lot of people a free ride). Nice meeting you Denise! - I for one gutted myself over that 80km stretch where we chased the guys down. Overall a very enjoyable ride

Sorry for the conjecture on my part

+1 For all their flaws, I think we can be glad to have PPA and Racetec

Yeah... I thought that story about everybody resting and so $ is going to be bunch of old, fat guys on mountain bikes was a bit suspect. At least I'll get to see Mr Lill at the start - and maybe for about 10 seconds after the start as I see him disapear into the distance

Holy cow, I also have the $!! :wacko: Coming from my usual leasurely start in D in the PPA races, this is going to shred me :eek:

I find these threads complaining about the cost of races a bit strange. Every week I marvel at the new gear that people have on their bikes (if not a new bike) and its not unusual for people to shell R15k for new wheels. Add to that the energy drinks and gels, petrol to drive to the venue and the opportunity cost of riding on a day you could probably be earning money some how and the the entry is by far the cheapest part of your day. If you enjoy riding in organised bunches (like me), pay the R190 and see me in the chute, if not, take your R50k bike and take it for a spin on your own.

+1 God speed! Fortunately we're going up Smits the other way, which is much safer